Hello all. I hope another week has treated you all superbly well. On my end its been another rain filled week here in the south of Sweden. But a little rain won't keep us from havin' fun. It was a good week but seemed a little slower pace then usual like everyone was kinda running a little low on energy... maybe just me though.

Traditionally I have class just mon and tues but this week my Tuesday class got bumped to Wednesday to meet accommodations with a guest lecturer. He was from Britain and talked about int'l business negotiation and was pretty interesting. Ultimately the only major impact of the change meant my long 'weekend' would start a day later. It was a pretty low key night as Garrett, Nikki, and Katie (fellow OSU exchangers) were leaving the next day for trips so they couldn't hang out. A lot of Swedes had tests this week as well so it left Laura and I to drink quietly in my room and chat and watch some tv.

Thursday I went to Delphi to my friend Dereks dorm. It was my first time there and was an interesting bike ride through our university campus. I generally don't ever go through campus as my class and dorm is on the edge but it can be rather confusing... particularly if buzzed riding in the dark and rain. He showed me bits of a low budget British documentary that he gets a laugh from that tried to draw comparisons of the European Union to the Nazis Regime and that the creation of the EU is essentially part of the Nazis plan. It's comforting to know that we Americans aren't the only ones with crazy conspiracies. We ended up watching the movie 'Snatch' as nobody in his hall was active. I feel we just settled on that movie cause its one of the few movies we had that had actors from both our countries.

*At this point in the blog you must be contemplating self harm by realizing how tame life abroad can be. No, it's not a 24/7 party with tall blonde girls groping me irresistibly battling for my attention...usually though.

To continue recounting my week I will move on to Friday night. Considering some Swedes had there tests on Sat. it was still low key in my corridor... but that didn't stop the party animal that I am. It being another night of rain Laura and I decided we didn't want to go all the way to Delphi to pre-party so we decided to meet up with our friends at the nation Krischanta later on. We left my dorm with another Swedish corridor mate David and met our friend Blake at the nation. Krischanta has been really fun in the past as it has a nice lounge and dance area. That night though the DJ did feel the need to play an extra amount of reggae music.

I like listening to reggae and its good on occasion whether you decide to play it on a sunny day to up your mood or you get stuck in a car with a stoner friend who only listens to that type of music. However, too much reggae in a dancing environment can drag on. At one point there was a guy with dreads down to his waste that I saw dancing on the ground until I realized he actually had no legs. He deserves a lot of credit cause I know very few people who are that committed to dance to that kind of music. We ended up seeing a lot of friends there, both some of our int'l friends and David's Swedish friends. One of his friends was a girl who lives in the Vastgota nation and invited us to the brunch they have on Saturdays. Anyways, our night there was cut a little short as the fire alarm went off. Interestingly enough it wasn't an intense ear bleeding fire alarm siren that I so dearly miss from home but instead quite rhythmic beeps that blended well with the music. When it went off everyone went crazy cause they thought it was some killer techno mix. Silly Swedes.

Saturday morning David, Laura and I ended up going to the brunch at Vastgota and found it was well worth the 40 swedish kroner (6 bucks) for the meal. Nations have different lunches and dinners that they open up to all students to offer a low price for good food. The nations also offer these fancy formal dinners called 'sittnings' where you get a three course meal and drinks while enjoying it with traditional Swedish songs that everyone sings.

At this brunch we went to they offered a great buffet and all the people there from Vastgota were really nice. I have only been clubbing there once and it was a mediocre experience but this afternoon spent there made me want to come back for more events.

On Saturday night a group of Swedes came by to celebrate finishing exams and to pre-party so I invited over my little group as well. After some good laughs and conversation we then packed our stuff up and trekked down to Lunds Nation, considered one of the fancier of the nations. Lunds nation exploits that reputation to charge you extra for your drinks and make you pay for your coat-check. This nation has two clubs, one called the playground which is downstairs and another called the penthouse which is on the roof. The one on the roof sounds pretty cool but last night it was at the playground. There was nothing really special about this club because to a certain extent when I describe one I've almost described them all.

For the past few weeks I have been saving all my bottles cause you can return them for decent money. For a 1.5 liter bottle you get 2 swedish kroner (30 cents) and if you get enough it adds up quick. I got about 70 kroner back and got to do my shopping on that. I was overly excited at this money making opportunity and it made me reflect on the Seinfeld where Kramer and Newman scheme on a way to get to Michigan for the 10 cent deposits. Later this evening (about 10am for you west coasters and 7pm for us) I had friends over to watch some good ole American football. I bought a pass that lets me watch a game a week and since the Titans (the team I have a particularly strong man crush on) had the week off we got together to watch the Raiders/Dolphins. It was a good excuse to lay around eating pizza while bitching about how our fantasy football teams suck.

Anyways, I'll be gone for the majority of the week as I venture into the south of Germany to Munich where I'll be attending a little festival known as Oktoberfest... I feel like my life has been building to this moment and all the beer that I have consumed in the past years abusing my body and developing a sturdy beer gut is finally being put to the test.